Entry Word: agony
Function: noun
Text: 1 a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness <waiting all those hours to hear if he'd survived the plane crash was pure agony> -- see HELL 22 a state of great suffering of body or mind <the agony of never knowing what happened to her son> -- see DISTRESS 13 a sudden intense expression of strong feeling <the announcement that the war was over unleashed a mass agony of joy> -- see OUTBURST 1